[00:00:09] Welcome to Gracious Words.
[00:00:12] Gracious Words is taken from the weekly women's Bible study, taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel
[00:00:17] Host a Mesa, California.
[00:00:36] The word Blessing is one that we are very familiar with, but what does it actually mean?
[00:00:42] On today's program we'll learn about Blessings, what they are, how we receive them and how we give them.
[00:01:13] And now here is part one of Cheryl's message titled, What's a Blessing?
[00:01:20] And so we're going to go ahead and this is our last study in Genesis,
[00:01:23] can you believe it? We've been through 50 chapters together. We've done this together separately.
[00:01:31] That's how we've done it. That God is faithful. He's spoken to us, His Word, His last
[00:01:37] word, which is for all of us and yet the word is so individualized, isn't it? It's the corporate
[00:01:43] word of God, it's saying the same message and yet it hits us in different spots right where we need it.
[00:01:49] I love that about the word. Alright, so as we come to Genesis chapter 49, we're told that Jacob
[00:01:57] gathers together all his sons because he wants to bless them. It's not exciting. This is a
[00:02:04] Blessing meeting and I don't know about you but I want to be blessed. I love, I just love the word
[00:02:11] Blessing. It just is full of so much potential and I love the idea of blessing? Yes, I'm in.
[00:02:17] I'm first in line for a blessing. I don't know what it is. I hope it's not this, but I'm in line
[00:02:22] for that blessing. I want to bless in on my life. Why? I think it's because we always
[00:02:28] are quite blessing with provision, with prosperity, with purposes realized and a potential
[00:02:35] reached. But I don't think that we truly, truly understand it, biblically, because biblically speaking,
[00:02:43] a blessing has to do with God making himself known in our lives. A blessing is bringing someone
[00:02:52] to the attention of God and God to their attention, bringing the intentions of God to their life.
[00:03:02] In other words, blessing is not meant to accomplish my will but that God's will might be
[00:03:09] realized and brought forth in my life. That His nature and His work and His purposes might be
[00:03:16] manifested in my life. In Genesis, the word blessed, Barack, this Hebrew word, Barack, is mentioned
[00:03:23] 48 times. Now maybe you've heard that blessing means, oh how happy? That's a different Hebrew word.
[00:03:30] That's the word isher. And isher is what you have in Psalm 1. Oh how happy is the man that does
[00:03:37] not walk in the counsel of the in Godly? But this word, Barack, or Barack, if I was going to try
[00:03:42] to act like I knew Hebrew, is mentioned, the word blessed 22 times. Blessing is mentioned 13 times,
[00:03:51] and blessed, blessed is mentioned 48 times. So we understand that the overall theme, the word used
[00:04:01] more than any other word in Genesis, is this word, Barack, or some form of Barack. It's to bless,
[00:04:09] to be blessed. It's the verb, it's the noun, and it's past tense, present tense. And it finds
[00:04:19] its source in God. God is the first two blessed. He blesses His creation, He blesses Adam and Eve
[00:04:29] because He's a blessing God. All blessings are source in God. And all blessings come by way of God.
[00:04:39] God is good. Therefore His blessing brings His goodness to our lives. Now goodness is good
[00:04:48] unless you're evil. If your evil thing goodness becomes something harmful to you,
[00:04:54] rather than something beneficial to you, if we are evil, then God's blessing and His goodness
[00:05:00] becomes a curse rather than a help. Again, God's blessings do not help us achieve our own ends,
[00:05:10] but they enable us to reach all the potential and good plans that God has for us.
[00:05:18] God's blessings are not an exemption from hardship, but they bring God's purposes to hardship.
[00:05:29] They bring God's goodness to even the horrific circumstances and heinous events of our life.
[00:05:36] God's blessing does not correct or remove the hardship. God's blessing harnesses hardship
[00:05:43] and makes it bow to the greater purposes of God. A blessing is not always a promise of good,
[00:05:51] but a blessing can come in the form of a warning. It can speak to us of the nature in us that will
[00:05:58] keep us from the blessings of God. It is a protective measure often. Recently I was on a walk with my
[00:06:06] little dog Barnabas. And as we were walking, we were walking in a nature center. This man
[00:06:12] came up to me and he said, I want you to know there's a coyote back there. And to me that was a blessing.
[00:06:20] That was a word of blessing because you know what? I am minted my path and I did not walk
[00:06:24] that way with Barnabas because another word for Barnabas is bait. Coyote bait. So we did not walk
[00:06:31] that trail. We changed our direction. A blessing also can be a challenge. It can be an opportunity
[00:06:38] or an inspiration. When someone speaks a blessing of your life, it speaks potential where you can
[00:06:47] go if you are willing to take God at his work. It is said that Deal Moody who is an evangelist
[00:06:54] around the turn of the century. Her demands say, the world has yet to see the power of God
[00:07:02] unleashed in the man who will give himself totally to God. That was a blessing to Deal Moody.
[00:07:09] That was an opportunity and he gave his life fully to God because he wanted to see the power of God
[00:07:17] unleashed. A blessing can be a conditional promise but a blessing is always a gift. If we
[00:07:26] heat it, it's a warning and then we will be benefited. If we rise to the challenge or promise,
[00:07:32] we will realize the goodness of God. Ultimately, blessings have to do with bringing us under
[00:07:38] the watchful care of a great God. Bringing us under the covenant blessings. But if you remember
[00:07:45] those covenant blessings, we're also a curse. If you walk with the Lord, you'll be blessed.
[00:07:51] If you turn from the Lord, you will not be blessed or realize those blessings. Blessing
[00:07:58] someone is to give someone or something to God, asking God to work his best in their lives.
[00:08:08] Have you ever had someone speak a word over you that stays with you? It's that word
[00:08:14] that you can't forget. For some of you, it was a mean word and you cannot let go of it. You can't
[00:08:21] forget it. It was so mean. It was like, why did they say that? And sometimes when something
[00:08:28] good happens to you, you're thinking, no, this can't be good because that word that was spoken
[00:08:33] and it tends to derail you in your purposes. It tends to mar. Even the great things that can
[00:08:42] happen to you. But a word of blessing is a word that you can't forget and it might be a word
[00:08:49] of warning. It might be a word of promise. I was recently reading a biography of Darling DeBler
[00:08:57] Rose. She wrote Evidence Not Scene. And when she was serving is a missionary, that Japanese took over
[00:09:05] the Pacific. She was there during the years of 1939 to 1944 and the Japanese took over the
[00:09:13] Pacific and her missionary organization called them back to Indonesia and she was arrested and
[00:09:20] put in Japanese POW camp. And there she was for four years but before she had gone into this camp,
[00:09:28] her supervisor, a man named Dr. Jeffries, a really godly man, had said to her, Darling,
[00:09:33] be a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was a word of blessing to her through every
[00:09:41] temptation, through every hardship. It was that word, that phrase. That would speak to her. She was
[00:09:50] called to be a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. God would give her the strength to be a good
[00:09:57] soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was a sustaining word, a word that kept her and preserved her
[00:10:06] during her time of internment and allowed her to come through, cause a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:10:13] This is what we observe when we see how Jacob blessed his sons. In Genesis 4928, all these are
[00:10:23] 12 tribes of Israel. And this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them. He blessed
[00:10:29] each one according to his own blessing. Yet when we read the things that Jacob pronounced over
[00:10:36] his sons, the majority of what we read doesn't seem necessarily like a blessing. Imagine being told
[00:10:43] that you were going to a blessing meeting. What comes up in your mind when you think a blessing
[00:10:49] meeting? What do you expect? What comes to mind? Isn't it the idea of having great things spoken
[00:10:56] over you? But let's say you go to that blessing meeting on this godly man. And then known for his
[00:11:02] kindness, you're like yes, yes, yes, he comes up and he's like, can I bless you? We're like,
[00:11:08] yes, please. Let's say he puts his hand on you and says, you are a venomous snake hanging out
[00:11:15] inside of the road that leafly bites the horse's heel and makes the rider fall off backwards.
[00:11:23] You're like, thank you so much. I came here drove 30 miles just to hear that wondrous word.
[00:11:31] Imagine you're just may? Did he just call you a snake? Not only a snake, you're not like
[00:11:37] even a king snake. You're not even a go for a snake. You're not even a beneficial snake. You're
[00:11:42] a venomous snake. You came to hear a word like, you are a beautiful princess. Your frog will
[00:11:52] soon turn to a prince as you continue to show him the affection of the Lord. You're like, yes,
[00:12:00] or your humble home will become a castle. That's what we want to hear. That's what we want to hear.
[00:12:08] Our dismay has to do with our misunderstanding of what a blessing is. You see, it's a blessing to
[00:12:16] know there's a venomous snake in your nature and that venomous snake has to be given to God.
[00:12:23] Because otherwise you have the potential to be lethal. You have the potential to kill to make
[00:12:31] people stumble and fall. This gives you an opportunity to know that nature. I think that's the
[00:12:40] problem with all these personality tests that we say that we take, they're not honest. I know this woman
[00:12:46] who is like, I took the personality test. I'm just a lover and I'm just looking at her going,
[00:12:53] wow, that is never the estimation. I would give to you. You know, I think everyone's personalities
[00:13:01] this is just something that is not biblical. But I believe everyone's personalities can be found in a
[00:13:07] Winnie the Poo Book. And I believe you can be a Winnie that you're just kind of like happy and you're
[00:13:13] not really aware of everything that's going around you. You can be a rabbit which means you're like
[00:13:18] super bossy. You can be an E or that always sees the cop half full. You can be a Roo, you're very
[00:13:25] motherly and nurturing. Okay, I'm going too far to prove my theory. If you want to know more about
[00:13:31] these, you read Winnie the Poo, the original. But I find that so many times these personality tests
[00:13:38] are only telling us the best about ourselves but not the honest estimation. You've got the
[00:13:43] potential in your nature for this. That's a better blessing because it tells you, you better
[00:13:49] give them nature to God. You better do this. It invites repentance and dedication to the Lord.
[00:13:57] I let that because it tells us that the Word of God, it's a blessing. It's a book of blessing.
[00:14:02] But also the Word of God honestly assesses the human condition and tells us what our problem is.
[00:14:10] And it gives us the remedy to that problem. The remedy being give yourself 100% to the Lord. Let
[00:14:17] him come in and take authority over that nature. Now in Genesis 49, again Jacob brings all his
[00:14:26] sons together that he might bless them. Think about this, all of his life. Jacob had wanted
[00:14:34] the blessing for 40 years. He wanted the blessing of his father, a blessing that culturally should
[00:14:41] go to his older brother. Jacob bargained for this blessing. He deceived for this blessing.
[00:14:49] He pretended to be somebody else that he might get this blessing. And yet this blessing that
[00:14:58] he can not have been deceived his father for a time seemed to be a curse. It drove him from
[00:15:05] his homeland, separated him from his father and from his mother. It forced him into a time of forced
[00:15:13] slavery to his uncle. Yet it brought to bear the potential of all the promises of God that were given
[00:15:23] to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac to be realized in his life. Genesis 28, 13,
[00:15:33] 15, it didn't come immediately. Those blessings weren't realized immediately. They came sporadically
[00:15:43] sometimes they came in the future but they came and what we see is God's divine intervention.
[00:15:55] The blessing of a promise of land, the promise of descendants, the promise that the Messiah
[00:16:01] of the world would come through Jacob's lineage, the promise of God's presence and the promise
[00:16:09] of God's word guaranteed. Now Jacob wants to give these same promises. He wants to bring
[00:16:16] all of his sons, all 12 of his sons under the promises of Abraham into the same covenant. So he
[00:16:30] called his sons together and said, gather together that I may tell you what will be
[00:16:35] for you in the last days. Now this phrase last days means the time following and does not
[00:16:43] refer to a specific epoch as much as an unspecified time that will follow. Kind of like we said
[00:16:49] in the fall, we will be studying the pastoral epistles. We don't know what day it will start.
[00:16:57] We have no idea at all. In fact we are praying and hoping that we get together together in the fall
[00:17:03] but it's in the future. So I said in the fall, speaking of a time that is not
[00:17:11] defined completely but is in the future. So last days when you come to that phrase last days
[00:17:18] in the Bible, it refers to the future. Gather together and hear you sons of Jacob and listen to
[00:17:27] your father. Son of Jacob refers to their natural nature. Israel, your father refers to the promises
[00:17:36] and blessings of God. Israel is the covenant name, the name of promise and it is under this name
[00:17:43] that the sons would realize the blessing. Even as Jacob could not receive a blessing in his own name
[00:17:51] but had to receive the name as he wrestled with God which signify the change of nature. You see
[00:18:00] we can only receive the blessings of God when we are under the authority of God. You know,
[00:18:07] blessing is not just something that you just get no matter what. Blessings are only yours if you're
[00:18:13] under the authority of God. For instance the man might have warned me against the coyote but if I
[00:18:18] insisted on going down that path, I had no guarantee against the attack of a coyote. Blessings are
[00:18:25] only realized when we're under the authority of the God who blesses. Jacob begins with Leah
[00:18:32] Suns, Ruben is the oldest and in verses three and four, Jacob says, you haunt the potential. You're
[00:18:40] the first born. You were the beginning of my might and strength. You were dignified and excellent
[00:18:45] empower. Here is all of this potential in Ruben. He's the first born he was meant to have the greatest blessing.
[00:18:56] The blessing that will read that Judah and Joseph later received, it was meant to go to Ruben
[00:19:03] that because of his ambition, because of his lust, he was unstable. He could not lead a leader
[00:19:13] needed to be stable, needed to be fixed on God. So he could lead others and set an example.
[00:19:22] So he would not excel. Here is both potential and danger. Here is God's intent.
[00:19:30] Intent his intention was that Ruben would excel that he would be mighty and strong and dignified
[00:19:38] and excellent empower. But the object that felt it was his own lust and ambition. Here is a warning,
[00:19:47] the blessing of a warning. You have the potential it's still in you to excel to be dignified.
[00:19:55] Do not give into your lust and your ambition. Interesting when Joshua gave the land to Israel,
[00:20:02] Ruben chose to settle on the east side of the Jordan and not in the Promised Land,
[00:20:11] not in the Covenant Land because he saw that the land and the East was already settled.
[00:20:18] Already conquered, already performing, and already had towns in it and buildings that they could
[00:20:26] pick over an assumed dwelling. You have simmin and Levi instruments of cruelty,
[00:20:32] while that would be something to hear at a blessing meeting. When their friendship was not healthy
[00:20:38] and it jeopardized the welfare of the nation of Israel. They had already jeopardized the family
[00:20:44] of Israel not once but twice once and check them. The second time when they were party to
[00:20:51] selling their brother Joseph to Egypt, they had a problem with anger, fierce wrath, cruel in
[00:21:01] their vengeance. They went too far to overkill. When they avenged, they went beyond vengeance
[00:21:10] to plundering the people to capturing the wives. It was wrong, it wasn't just, it was overkill.
[00:21:19] And so Jacob pronounces the blessing you're going to be separated. You two are not healthy for each
[00:21:27] other, so I'm going to separate you. It's interesting because years ago I recognized that I had a
[00:21:35] problem with gossip. This was probably 18 or 19 years ago. I felt the Holy Spirit say,
[00:21:40] you've been gossiping like, and that's really displeasing to me. And I said, Lord, you're right,
[00:21:47] I repent. But there are two women in my life that whenever I talk to them, it goes from zero
[00:21:53] to gossip in less than five seconds. And I don't know how to stop it. I don't know what to do.
[00:21:59] And the Lord took both of those women out of my life within three months. Both were removed.
[00:22:04] Now I had no excuse. Do not gossip. It was God separating and it was healthier for them and it
[00:22:13] was healthier for me. Simeon and Levi were not good for each other. They needed to be separated.
[00:22:20] It's interesting again when it comes to the land of Israel. Simeon was put in the midst of all
[00:22:25] the tribes like we're going to watch you. You can't do naughty things. You can't let your anger
[00:22:30] grow. In fact, his tribe was situated in the middle of the tribe of Judah. Levi then had no certain
[00:22:40] jurisdiction. In fact, they were scattered throughout the tribes of Israel. Interesting that they
[00:22:46] were the log ever tried. They were the ones. They were kind of like the police force. God says,
[00:22:51] I'll put this to good use. We'll make you the police force and you will give people the love God
[00:22:57] in force it in the towns wherever you are. But you'll be separated because together,
[00:23:03] you're a little dangerous. It's interesting to know that it was the tribe of Levi that
[00:23:08] cried for the crucifixion of Jesus. They're the ones who said crucify him,
[00:23:13] El would not be sated with exile or anything less, not with clergy but with Jesus who had done
[00:23:21] no evil, they wanted crucifixion. Judah is the next sign. Now this is the blessing you want.
[00:23:28] Oh, what a blessing. None of Judah's past infractions are mentioned. Don't you look at that. Not one.
[00:23:35] Now while you did this like Rubin, you know you slept with Bill Ha, back,
[00:23:44] simian and Levi, you were angry. You took too much vengeance. Now we know Judah was complicit in the
[00:23:58] evil sons who God slew. We know that Judah was not honest in his dealings with teamwork
[00:24:04] and yet none of these are mentioned. In fact, praise awaits his future. There's been such a dramatic
[00:24:13] change in Judah. Probably much like the change that happened to Jacob when he became Israel.
[00:24:20] Judah now begins to live up to his name praise. Isn't it exciting to think that we are blessed?
[00:24:29] We often equate blessing with prosperity but it's so much more. Bibliically speaking, a blessing
[00:24:35] has God making himself known to us. It's an opportunity to stop and give attention to God.
[00:24:42] It allows him to work so that his will might be done in and through our lives
[00:24:47] that his nature work and purposes would be seen through us. It's incredible to think that the
[00:24:54] God who created the universe wants to bless us but he does. May we keep our hearts and minds
[00:25:00] ready to receive all that he has for us. We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study.
[00:25:06] For more information about the gracious words radio program and the teaching ministry of Cheryl
[00:25:11] Brotersin please visit our website at GraciousWords.com. Coming up next time on the GraciousWords program
[00:25:18] we'll look further into blessings as we continue our series our great creator in the book of Genesis
[00:25:24] with Cheryl Brotersin. We do hope you make plans to join us. Again for more information please visit our
[00:25:30] website at GraciousWords.com.
[00:25:52] This program is sponsored by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California.
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